Exquisite sound with Electro-Voice in Courchevel

Cape Horn restaurant in the VIP ski resort of Courchevel equipped with an extensive Electro-Voice sound system

Installation was performed by the Paris-based audio specialists Concept One

Along with St. Moritz and Kitzbühel, the French ski resort of Courchevel is one of the favorite playgrounds of the international jet set – a fact to which the presence there in recent years of Prince William, George Clooney and Robbie Williams is testimony enough. One of the most chic restaurants in the resort, without question, is Le Cape Horn, which, at an altitude of 2,100 meters, boasts an outstanding location, first-class cuisine and a peaceful ambience. The sense of perfect wellbeing in Le Cape Horn owes much, naturally, to the sound system. To offer its highly demanding clientele the finest possible acoustic fare, the restaurant’s managers invested recently in a new distributed sound system from Electro-Voice. This serves the 1,250-square-meter outside terrace as well as the interior of the restaurant. The design and realisation of the installation was the work of the Paris-based sound specialists Concept One.

The demands placed on the new sound system are immense. In addition to the standard requirements, such as excellent sound performance, visual eleganceand an attractive price-performance ratio, the loudspeakers here – the ones located outdoors, at least – had to be extremely weatherproof. After all, at 2,000 meters, the mercury on winter nights can fall well below minus 20 degrees Celsius. “Sub-zero temperatures and penetrating damp represent considerable hurdles for any sound system,” comments Jean Marandet of EVI Audio France, which accompanied the project, “but scarce anywhere more so than here. This system represents the ultimate in resilience.” In fact, to ensure the caps and diaphragms come to no harm on the coldest nights of the year, they are driven all night at a low level.

On the outside terrace, ten EVF-1122D/99 loudspeakers are accompanied by eight ZX1i-90, combined with five TX2181 and six TX1181 subwoofers from Electro-Voice’s Tour X series, which were given a special weatherproof coating for outdoor use.

In the interior, four TX1122 two-way loudspeakers are used. These serve the restaurant, which can accommodate up to 300 guests at a time. Four EVID 4.2 and two EVID 12.1 loudspeakers round off the installation. The entire system is driven by eleven Electro-Voice Q1212 and two Electro-Voice Q99 power amplifiers.

“We had accompanied several other Electro-Voice installations in ski resorts in the past, in places such as l’Alpe d’Huez,” says Marandet, “but no two projects are ever quite alike. Fortunately, in Electro-Voice we invariably find the ideal response to every challenge.”